There are some animals you just wouldn't want to interrupt eating - and crocodiles are very high up on that list.

But one daring wildlife photographer decided to rick becoming dessert as he snapped pictured of more than 20 crocodiles feasting on a bloated hippo carcass.

Californian Jeff Nadler stood just a few feet away from the water's edge to allow him to take these striking close-up images of the huge predators tearing into the three-tonne giant in South Luangwa, Zambia.

Bitten off more than you can chew? A crocodile bites into a hippo carcass in Luangwa, Zambia

Deadly: Several crocodiles circle the three-tonne hippo carcass in South Luangwa, Zambia, while Californian photographer Jeff Nadler captures the moment from the river bank

Surrounded: A crocodile can be seen with its jaws open as it surrounds the carcass of a dead hippo in South Luangwa, Zambia

They circled the waters taking it in turns to rip flesh from the hippo with the biggest crocodiles - measuring up to 5m long - being first in the pecking order.